Afghanite (Na; Ca; K)8(Si; Al)12O24(SO4; Cl; CO3)3 ² H2O c 2001 Mineral Data Publishing, version 1.2 ° Crystal Data: Hexagonal. Point Group: 6=m 2=m 2=m; 6mm; or 6 m2: As stout to slender, thin tabular laths and as rounded grains. Physical Properties: Cleavage: Perfect on 1010 . Fracture: Conchoidal. Hardness = 5.5{6 D(meas.) = 2.55 D(calc.) = 2.65 f g Optical Properties: Transparent. Color: Blue; in thin section, colorless. Luster: Vitreous. Optical Class: Uniaxial (+). ! = 1.523(2) ² = 1.529(2) Cell Data: Space Group: P 63=mmc; P 63mc; or P 62c: a = 12.77(3) c = 21.35(4) Z = 3 X-ray Powder Pattern: Sar-e-Sang, Afghanistan. 3.688 (100), 3.298 (100), 4.82 (80), 3.997 (60), 2.865 (60), 2.130 (60), 1.792 (60) Chemistry: (1) (2) SiO2 30.8 32.96 Al2O3 25. 25.45 CaO 16.5 11.98 Na2O 12.6 12.52 K2O 2.7 3.07 Cl 4.6 3.98 H2O 0.7 CO2 0.4 SO3 8.5 10.82 O = Cl 1.0 0.9 ¡ 2 Total 100.8 99.88 (1) Sar-e-Sang, Afghanistan; corresponds to (Na4:86Ca3:52K0:69)§=9:07(Si6:13Al5:87)§=12:00O25:21 [Cl1:55(SO4)1:27(CO3)0:11]§=2:93 ² 0:46H2O: (2) Edwards, New York, USA; by electron microprobe, corresponds to (Na4:63Ca2:45K0:75)§=7:83(Si6:28Al5:72)§=12:00O24:08[(SO4)1:55Cl1:29]§=2:84: Mineral Group: Cancrinite group. Occurrence: In thin veinlets cutting lazurite crystals (Sar-e-Sang, Afghanistan); in silici¯ed limestone xenoliths in pumice (Pitigliano quarry, Italy). Association: Lazurite, sodalite, nepheline, phlogopite, olivine, diopside, vesuvianite, calcite, pyrite. Distribution: At Sar-e-Sang, Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan. In Russia, in the Malaya Bystraya and Tultuy lazurite deposits, near Lake Baikal, and in other unspeci¯ed deposits in eastern Siberia. From Lyadzhuar-Darinsk, Pamir Mountains, Tajikistan. In Italy, at the Pitigliano quarry, near Grosseto, Tuscany; on Monte Somma, Campania; from Vetralla and Bassano, Latium. In the Edwards mine, Edwards, St. Lawrence Co., New York, USA. At Lake Harbour, Ba±n Island, Newfoundland, Canada. Name: For the country of ¯rst occurrence, AFGHANistan. Type Material: Mineralogy-Crystallography Laboratory, University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris; National School of Mines, Paris, France; The Natural History Museum, London, England, 1969,72. References: (1) Bariand, P., F. Cesbron, and R. Giraud (1968) Une nouvelle espµece min¶erale: l'afghanite de Sar-e-Sang, Badakhshan, Afghanistan. Comparaison avec les min¶eraux du groupe de la cancrinite. Bull. Soc. fr. Min¶eral., 91, 34{42 (in French with English abs.). (2) (1968) Amer. Mineral., 53, 2105 (abs. ref. 1). (3) Hogarth, D. (1979) Afghanite: new occurrences and chemical composition. Can. Mineral., 17, 47{52. (4) Parodi, G.C., P. Ballirano, and A. Maras (1996) Afghanite from Mount Vesuvius: a rediscovery. Mineral. Record, 26, 109{114. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of Mineral Data Publishing..